Show HN: Sink – Sync any directory with any device on your local network

34•sirbread•4h ago

i made sink. it's a simple little tool that continuously syncs folders between 2 devices. no cloud, no email, flash drives, no bs.

it just uses your local wifi. run it on your machines, tell them to trust each other, and you're set. and if you manage to edit the same file at once, it handles the conflict and saves both copies.

for anyone who just wants to get files from point a to b without the headache. hope it makes your life a bit less annoying.

github: https://github.com/sirbread/sink binary: https://github.com/sirbread/sink/releases/tag/v0.1

Comments

notpushkin•3h ago

I have a few qualms with this app:

1. For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem. From Windows or Mac, this FTP account could be accessed through built-in software.

2. It doesn't actually replace a USB drive. Most people I know e-mail files to themselves or host them somewhere online to be able to perform presentations, but they still carry a USB drive in case there are connectivity problems. This does not solve the connectivity issue.

3. It does not seem very "viral" or income-generating. I know this is premature at this point, but without charging users for the service, is it reasonable to expect to make money off of this?

skrebbel•3h ago

FWIW i think you ruined it by editing that “/s” in

notpushkin•3h ago

I thought about it for a bit, but I’m worried the author might not recognize this copypasta and try to answer it on its face value.

(It is, of course, the famous Dropbox comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863#9224)

Imustaskforhelp•3h ago

Haha. I guess I had heard the story of dropbox, why not ftp, but I guess this was the story!

I guess it is funny to me that SVN/CVS was there in 2007 since I think git wasn't even invented at the time but now new people won't even know what SVN/CVS are, I only got to know them because I wanted to download a specific folder of github and some stackoverflow comment mentioned svn

notpushkin•3h ago

Apparently, the first version of Git was released in 2005, but I’m not sure a lot of people have heard about it before GitHub has been launched in 2008.

Wild times! (I was 10, my preferred source control system was “eh I have a backup somewhere I think”.)

fetzu•2h ago

MyVeryCoolApp_final_FINAL2_fixed.BAS

sirbread•2h ago

we've all been there

drcongo•3h ago

That made my morning.

sirbread•3h ago

Totally understand your doubts. I mainly made this program to solve a tiny issue that got annoying and repetitive, so I asked myself, "Can I automate this?" 1. Since I mainly use Windows (for school software to run), I cannot simply do this, considering our school blocks any 3rd part app that isn't in their whitelist. 2. Sure, it doesn't _replace_ a USB drive, but it makes it a lot easier, which can _lessen_ the use of a USB drive. 3. Again, I really just made this for myself and a couple of friends at my high school so we can share projects without too much hassle. I just wanted to share it with the world because maybe someone else has the same dumb problem, which could help them too. It's not meant to be a business, just a tool. I'll call that a win if it saves one other person from emailing a file to themselves.

notpushkin•3h ago

Sorry, I might have edited that /s in too late! This is actually one of the early comments from the Dropbox launch thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863#9224

saaspirant•2h ago

I was gonna link to the same thing! Text looked familiar

dewey•3h ago

I’d guess that the overlap of people who email themselves files also use Gmail…which would then also just have Google Drive. Why not use that?

kunley•3h ago

One word comes to mind: syncthing

dewey•3h ago

What is the selling point over the very mature Syncthing? I’ve been using that for this use case for many years, with the additional benefit of also being able to sync it to my server, having a UI and being in all package managers already.

anerli•3h ago

^ syncthing is nice

_pferreir_•3h ago

This ^

I also recommend magic wormhole.

progx•3h ago

NIH?

fxtentacle•3h ago

I especially like that Syncthing can do encrypted revision backups to untrusted servers. My workstation and laptop get synchronised. And in case I ever accidentally overwrite a file, there’s the past five revisions on an offsite server.

sirbread•3h ago

being fr, i never even knew about syncthing until now. it's (clearly) a lot better, but again, the reason I made this is because of my school's software whitelist. they only allow certain apps to run on my laptop, one of them being python due to out compsci class. since then, I've been using it to get around whitelists and make my own stuff. this allows me to sync up me and my friend's stuff (like projects, etc.) while we're in school and not have to worry about the whitelist :)

ryanjshaw•2h ago

That’s perfectly valid. Maybe add it to the top of your readme explaining what problem it solves (need to sync files between machines and all you can use is python).

globular-toast•2h ago

My initial thought was, man, your school is lame. But maybe it's genius? Creativity thrives in a constrained environment.

shakna•3h ago

SyncThing's insistence that a web UI be how you do everything has caused me quite a few headaches. Especially when said UI regularly breaks accessibility tools.

(The team do tend to fix those accessibility problems pretty fast. But spending a couple days a month working around a tool is not my idea of fun.)

zimpenfish•2h ago

> SyncThing's insistence that a web UI be how you do everything

It does have `syncthing cli ...` which -I think- lets you do everything but to call it obtuse would be an understatement.

donatj•1h ago

Syncthing is the most confounding user-unfriendly software I have ever had the displeasure of using. It makes a process that should be pretty easy, pick some folders and share some keys remarkably painful and convoluted.

maweki•3h ago

I don't really understand what the difference is to syncthing (or value over syncthing, as it is very mature and also works across the Internet). You share folders and other devices are discovered locally and you decide which devices to trust and to share with.

kinow•3h ago

Most of whayt I emailed myself were links to have a look at later.

I stopped doing that after learning about the sync feature in Firefox, and the option to send tabs across devices.

saaspirant•2h ago

I used to use Firefox tabs too but I look at links maybe once a week and keeping too many tabs is annoying for me. So I am back to emailing notes and thoughts

poisonborz•3h ago

This title on HN sounds like the "Until now, this was the only way to get juice from an orange"[1] scene from Simpsons.

[1]https://yewtu.be/watch?v=PJffrWZg-Bo

bbno4•3h ago

bro just reinvented syncthing

sirbread•3h ago

lol sure i "reinvented it" but the reason I made it in the first place is because my school's whitelist. they whitelisted certain apps (like Python 3.11, for our Comp Sci class) and i've been using that since to get around the whitelist :p

jonwinstanley•3h ago

Re-inventing a product is great for learning. Looks like a decent project and hopefully you had a good time solving the issues.

Daril•3h ago

I use Syncthing in combination with Cryptomator for sensible files, but there is also the Localsend app : https://localsend.org/

MrGilbert•3h ago

Congrats! It's always neat to have something out there in the wild. :)

For quickly sending a file, url, text or whatever between two devices, I usually use a selfhosted version of https://tnxfr.com (https://github.com/mustakimali/just-an-email). Thanks to a web interface, it works on almost every device.

bilekas•3h ago

The commit log reads exactly like my stream of consciousness with personal projects :

https://github.com/sirbread/sink/commits/main/

neepi•2h ago

I solved this problem again recently as well. After evaluating various synchronisation methods I thought it would be a good idea to design a new methodology which doesn't reinvent the wheel. Completely out of the box thinking. It took a few days to come up with a solution which worked on paper and a couple of weeks to implement it. I call this onecomputer. What you do is uninstall all sync software from your devices and put everything other than the primary one in the cupboard. Job done. No problems with conflict resolution. No race conditions. No resource and locking issues. Fast, reliable and does not depend on any third party provider or network. It just works. No wheel reinventing - this is uninvention.

shaism•2h ago

How do I get stuff from my “onesmartphone” to the “onecomputer”?

Or shall I also put the “onesmartphone” in the cupboard?

neepi•1h ago

The phone here basically does IMAP (which is sync I suppose) and gets plugged into the computer and stuff copied around as required manually, which turns out to be rarely as it's not the primary device!

sirbread•2h ago

i can't tell if this is satire or not </3

globalnode•2h ago

its something, lets move along quietly and hope they dont notice...

also not sure why so many have a love affair with syncthing, id never heard of it but more diverse software in the world is a good thing imho. the more wheels reinvented the better, its fun!

neepi•1h ago

I haven't decided yet :)

More seriously, I am mostly working like this now. I've had at least some data loss or reliability from every single sync solution I've tried so am practicing avoidance where possible.

I really want something to work but I can't find anything that does and I've tried all major ecosystems and syncthing etc.

saaspirant•2h ago

From the headline, I thought it was a way to easily note your thoughts because I unless I e-mail myself my thoughts, I never look at them.

alt187•1h ago

Be proud you did a thing. Not everything has to optimize profits, userbase, or some other metrics. You developed something for yourself, and saw it through until it worked, and no one can take that away from you.

It's also much more stimulating to build something than ask like a pedant "why this exists when Syncthing?", so, I guess the joke's on them.

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Show HN: Sink – Sync any directory with any device on your local network

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